the arrests. >> reporter: yeah, certainly it has come very quickly and very swiftly. it has people on edge because the nature of this crackdown really is not yet clear. the government or at least the police force is saying this is a matter of law and order, but obviously given the backdrop of what just happened in the country, people here are concerned that it is now politically motivated and there's an attempt underway to try and suppress the muslim brotherhood and their leaders. some of the things that you were talking about, two of the most notable figures, the leader of the muslim brotherhood and his deputy both now have arrest warrants out for them, for their involvement in allegedly inciting violence against protesters outside the muslim brotherhood headquarters back on sunday that killed eight people. the former president, muhammad morsi, is being investigated even though he's under the custody of the military. he's being investigated by a cairo prosecutor on charges that he defamed the judiciary. that certainly has put him on a travel bana long with eight other officials.

in addition digs tho thto that, down channels with islamist ties. there's a cle that back drop is creating anxiety for democracy activists as well. >> tomorrow, friday, concern about heightened activity, heightened energy when it comes to the rejection of what has happened so far, friday being the day of prayers? >> reporter: that's correct. in fact, it's the end of the week here. it's a day where people don't go to work. friday prayers are a big gathering for communities all across the country. already the muslim brotherhood and islamist supporters are calling on followers and supporters to stage nationwide protests following friday prayers. i can assure you that many of the sermons that are going to be at the mosques, some affiliated with the muslim brotherhood are

going to be fiery and rachet up the rhetoric against the military. that's intense as they come out into the streets. they are calling for a nationwide march. they're calling for a sit-in and moving that in the direction of the ministry of defense. so it could be a very explosive situation depending on whether or not followers and supporters of the muslim brotherhood heed those calls. as we've seen in the past, it is a great opportunity to get people riled up and certainly can be an explosive situation if, indeed, these crowds do answer those calls. >> ayman, february 2011, 2012 we were talking about the confrontation between the muslims and christians. this time it has not been a major part of the story lines. do you expect that to change in the coming weeks? >> reporter: well, that certainly depends on the tone that has been struck from the new interim government. yesterday it was a very symbolic image. that was very different than what we saw back in 2011 when the military controlled back

then. yesterday's announcement from the military that president morsi had been denounced showed the general that made the announcement flanked by religious and christian leaders as well as other notable figures. you can imagine going forward there's going to be an attempt to try and build consensus among these two communities. there have been differences but the leadership of these two communities have always tried to narrow those differences, particularly given some of the ethnic or sectarian tensions that have happened in the last two years. one of the criticisms against former president muhammad morsi is that he didn't do enough to try and quell or put down the sectarian tension that is would flare-up in the countryside or rural communities. they say him and his infamous supporters contributed to the type of incitement against christian minorities in this country. it's all about the tone that is struck going forward. >> ayman mohyeldin, thank you for your reporting. joining us from washington is the director of the subban center for middle east policy at

the brookings institution. tamara is with us. you wrote an article in the "usa today." you are looking at how the international community can engage what is happening in egypt, and it's a fine line. >> it is a fine line because the military have taken an action against a democratically elected leader, and outsiders don't want to condone that. on the other hand, that democratically elected leader was not necessarily sending egypt in a democratic direction and so if this is a chance for a recess, then i think the international community wants to be supportive. but the burden is right now on the military to show that its intentions are to return egypt to democratic rule as soon as possible. >> you know, in your article you point out three possible solutions. i'll read from it right now. you say maintain political inclusiveness, overhaul the abusive policy and -- police, rather, and security services and pursue economic reform as well as recovery. expand on that, if you can.

>> sure. well, the first thing is that president morsi, who is just deposed, was practicing a very exclusionary politics drafting a new constitution without sufficient consensus, ramming it through, trying to silence some of his critics by suing them in the courts. the mistake would be to repeat that in the other direction and try to exclude islamists from the political sphere. that's the first issue. on the police, you know, the police in egypt and the interior ministry have, unfortunately, a very long record of human rights abuses and, indeed, those abuses helped generate a lot of the anger in the first revolution 2 1/2 years ago. so when they joined protestors, that was a very political act but it was also a way of saying democratic government is going to put us under scrutiny and we're not sure we like that. so one way or another the police have to be put under civilian

authority and made accountable to the people. >> what were you -- >> go ahead. >> please, go ahead. finish up. >> sure. on the third point, the economic point, egypt is, among other things, a very poor country. about half the population living under the international poverty line and people have been suffering a lot since the revolution as remittances have gone down, tourism has left the country, foreign direct investment has left. stable politics is a basic ingredient but then that government's going to have to make tough decisions on how to get their economy moving again. >> so you have outlined three possibilities in terms of a solution, a roadmap for egypt. and whenever we see this story brought back, at least it has been in 2012, 2011, we see how intertwined the international political economy is. about 4.5% of the world's oil supply goes through the suez canal right there by egypt. we also have to look at the

internal economy. it dipped during the one year under the control of the muslim brotherhood. recently it had an uptick in terms of its stock market there in egypt. when we look at the external/internal balance of the economy, how is it that we can, the united states and the west, put forth our inprints on what's happening there or is it hands off? >> look, i think egyptians know and certainly the egyptian business community knows that success in egypt is going to be driven by the private sector and it's going to be driven by trade with the outside world. egypt's not going to prosper on the back of revenues for suez canal transit or even natural gas. they need to generate a strong business kmun nitd at this and they need good ties to the west to do that. there's some liberalization and regulatory reform that needs to take place, but mostly they need

a government that can work with transparency and they need reliable courts of law where contracts can be enforced. so these are basic issues and a lot of countries around the world, but it just adds to the problem when you don't have a civilian authority in place that can provide reliable governance. >> in question is the aid that the united states provides to egypt. there's just over a billion that's in question at this moment and it will go to the military. should the aid coming to the united states continue to be so over weighted towards the military or should it be for other items, such as the problems that everyday egyptians face today, long lines for p petro, and long lines of inconsistency? >> a lot of years the united states has invested in aid in egypt as well and produced a lot of good as well. that economic aid has declined in years but egypt is still needy.

i think if they were on a good political trajectory, if the united states could have confidence that the egyptian government was making the right decisions, then it would be a good investment for the united states to help the people of egypt on this path. egypt is a tremendously important anchor for the region. it's been a very important partner for american policy in the region and so u.s. assistance in the right context can help egypt succeed. >> tamara, thank you so much for stopping by today. >> thank you. turning to the zimmerman trial which is in recess for the july 4th holiday, and when court resumes tomorrow the state could wrap up its case by the end of the day. now yesterday jurors heard testimony from zimmerman's former college professors about classes he took that covered florida's self-defense and stand your ground laws. >> what can you tell us about how long you spent as part of that course covering eye dlieks self-defense and stand your ground? >> right. self-defense is an affirmative defense. it's a big -- self-defense is

not one of those things that you're just going to whisk through in a day or after you teach it you're going to neglect from bringing it back into the classroom. so it was something that i constantly iterated. >> jurors also heard testimony from a firearms expert and a dna analyst. >> there were no dna foreign to him on that sam zblm in other words, the fingernail scrapings of trayvon martin you did not find any of george zimmerman's dna there, is that correct? >> no, there was nothing foreign to trayvon martin. >> as we've been reporting, george zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in the death of trayvon martin. he has pleaded not guilty. he said it was self-defense. joining us is seema ayre and kendall coffey. day eight, who came out ahead? >> i think the defense is pushing forward hard and fast

and that is why strategically the prosecution is putting trayvon martin's mother at the end. although she is a fact witness to corroborate the 911 call, their position it is trayvon's voice, she will evoke sympathy, plus the autopsy will be very, very damaging to the defense case, seeing mr. martin's dead body. >> kendall, day eight testimony done. if you agree with what seema is saying here, could they turn it around on friday? >> well, i think, actually, it was a pretty good day for the prosecution. i think the forensics are something that juries find fascinating and they undercut a couple of contentions. the lack of martin's dna under the fingernails contradicts the defense theme that martin was viciously beating him, slamming his head against con kreempt i think those kinds of elements were helpful. i agree that friday is critical. the prosecution hopes to end

dramatically and their hope is that the jury, which will be moved by trayvon martin's mother and her loss and her grief, will be persuaded by her voice recognition when she says it's trayvon martin's voice screaming for help in the final moments of his life. we know that zimmerman's family's going to contradict that, but if the jury finds sabrina fulton's testimony compelling, it's going to really strengthen the chance of a conviction. >> can we go back to the testimony on the stand your ground statute where we had the captain, the jag from the u.s. army giving his perspective on law with regard to the stand your ground statute, what could the prosecution have done differently? it seemed as though once they established he had included that in his curriculum they let it go and then when it came to the defense they stayed on that very subject for about 40 minutes. did that work out well for the prosecution? >> well, the defense did a skillful job of using a prosecution witness as a defense

expert on the laws of self-defense, but the prosecution needed to put that forward because the reality is that george zimmerman came up with a pretty good story in terms of what happened that night and one of the key things the prosecution is doing, trying to do at least, is to show that zimmerman was a student of the laws of self-defense. he may have falsely denied it on national television, but he knew all about the ins and outs of stand your ground and was, therefore, able to come up with some false elements and a false story in order to cover up the prosecution for the crime of murder. >> zimmerman blatantly lied about his knowledge about this very prevalent notion of self-defense. everyone in this country knows what self-defense is. he just blatantly lied. the problem is the defense turned it around, took the words from the jury instruction and like kendall said, made a prosecution witness a defense expert. >> should the prosecution have gone longer in that line of questioning with that particular

witness? >> i think you have to balance the good and the bad, and in this situation it was so important to get out that zimmerman was lying, that he got an a in this course and that he had knowledge and training in criminal justice. so it was a balancing situation. they had no choice. they had to put him on and face that the defense would turn this around, which they did. >> or what the defense might call inconsistencies. >> or not enough. >> seema iyre, thank you, kendall coffey. >> up on this july 4th, she's back up and running and ready to welcome the american's shores. liberty island. to a delightful. then i better use the capital one purchase eraser to redeem my venture miles for this trip. purchase eraser? it's the easy way to erase any recent travel expense. i just pick a charge, like my flight with a few taps, it's taken care of. impressive baldwin. does it work for hotels? absolutely thank goodness.

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house speaker john boehner says he will convene a meeting among house republicans on july

10th to chart the way forward on an immigration bill, but the move comes that any people looking for a path to citizenship can get support for the hasterisk rule. kevin, first, you know the bill that passed the senate added $38 billion in border security. doubled the number of agents on the border to almost 40,000 here, and now the cbo says it would shrink the deficit by $135 billion in the first ten years. all of that together, the house republicans, will they object to this bill with all of that built in now? >> i think it's anybody's guess. as we head into this 4th of july weekend, all eyes really are going to be in mid july when house republicans reconvene to talk about this immigration reform. but ever since november, richard, we've heard that they want to reach out to the

hispanic community. this is a perfect opportunity for them to do that, but it's unknown whether they will. >> there's also this, bob. you know, the gop needs immigration reform to help the party in the long run as was just eluded to. there's a lot saying their constituents not on board with reform. when you look at this, it does come down to their districts. they've got to go back. they've got to win. there's 2014 right in front of them. something that may not resonate locally but certainly nationally at this moment. >> it doesn't resonate at all with many of them that they need to reach out with the hispanic community at all. you spoke a moment ago about the hastor rule which is a majority of the majority. john boehner was saying that the republicans will have to pass whatever passes in the house, and that may be an obstacle that's just too high to climb because they call it, you know, this path to citizenship they call amnesty. that's become quite a hated word with them. >> yeah. one of these statistics from "the new york times" here, 84% of house republicans represent

districts that are 20% or less hispanic. so, concern, it seems to forward that argument that they're thinking locally here. immigration reform does not provide the intensity, does not provide the messaging that they need to win in their districts. >> that's a great point. and i also think that from a larger context they have to be able to appeal to the base of their party, and we're seeing this as senators marco rubio, for example, who has really been at the forefront and the face, if you will, of getting this immigration proposal passed in the senate, he's got to now pivot to his base to make sure that the conservative movement in his party are still going along with them as they attempt to reach out to further extend their party. >> bob, it's about thinking big and whether they can take that big thinking home when they leave dc. some of that big thinking we look at the numbers there in terms of the budget and the cbo, that 100 billion plus that was talked about over a decade. there's also this coming out

just a day ago from the cbo saying the senate immigration bill as it was pushed over to the house would cut illegal immigration 1/3 to 1/2 where the previous version was only 1/4. so that's some pretty good numbers out there as well. will that work? >> well, first of all, you just said the key thing, which is that they would require some big thinking here. and in washington right now, particularly in the house of representatives, we have some real small mindedness and you also have a situation where all these districts have been carved out so people can, in fact, have a district that is really free of anybody of color and that kind of thing and there's no sentiment back home for coming up with any sort of grand plan that would possibly help the united states. they're more concerned about the parochial interests. >> july 10th debate begins. what's going to happen as some are saying here, kevin, is that there will be some sort of house bill. it will be put together totally separate of what has come over

from the senate. they go to conference. what do they end up with? >> i think that the key provisions here revolve around the security mechanisms that could be in place around the border, but i also think the issue of amnesty. amnesty has never been something that the republicans have dealt with easily. >> will it be a 20-year path instead of 13? what are we looking at, do you think? >> i think we could see a couple of perhaps less than one year but i do think that it's anybody's guess really at this point. >> bob franken, last word. >> the last word is that it's easy to say that it's going to have a real problem in the house so i'll say it. it's going to have a huge problem in the house. >> it was easy. why not say it, bob franken. it's july 4th. thank you, bob franken, kevin sirily. >> happy 4th. there are new details about the wild fire that killed 19 firefighters. we'll have the latest from arizona. later, where is edward snowden. that's the question that

persists. the latest on the whereabouts on the nsa leaker right here on msnbc. that do ride the bus. and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment.

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and my goal is to put this thing to bed as quickly as we can, but we want to be absolutely certain that it's done. >> watching all of that progress for us, nbc's miguel almaguera. the concern was winds. >> reporter: yeah, richard, we have seen steady winds for half the day. they certainly are not gusty. on and off typical weather here in arizona at this hour. the temperatures are hot.

that is difficult for firefighters who are carrying heavy packs on their back, up to 40 pounds. they'll have their work cut out for them. the blaze is at least 45% contained. we expect that number to rise as crews continue to build the lines around the center of this blaze. they are making steady progress here as they remember and they fight this fire for those 19 fallen firefighters who were overcome by that blaze on friday. of course, on tuesday they'll be holding that large memorial for those 19 fallen firefighters. crews from across the country will be coming here to this city to remember them, richard. >> miguel, always a challenge is how are the firefighters holding up as new troops hit the ground, are able to refresh them and get out there and fight this fire. how is that going? >> we know that there's about 600 firefighting personnel now on the ground. they are trying to bring crews

off of the front lines, especially those that knew these firefighters that were killed really well. we know that the reinforcements have been coming in. they've been making progress so they're beginning to send some resources home. we haven't seen the air attack as we had in the last few days. the c-130s, the military-like planes that drop the fire retardant are grounded. they're not needed at this fire. there are some 37 large wildfires burning across this region so the firefight across the west tonight is certainly not over as folks on the front lines fight the blaze here with a heavy heart. >> yeah. they are maintaining the vigilance certainly and things can change so quickly. nbc's migeul almaguer. we'll go to the white house for their thoughts on egypt and how the supreme court decisions changed the landscape. these bas to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day.

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on this july 4th

demonstrators gathering in washington, d.c., and other cities for restore the 4th rallies to protest the nsa programs given up by edward snowden. this refers to the 4th amendment rights to unreasonable searches and seizures that demonstrators believe have been compromised by the latest information. edward snowden is spending his days inside the transit area. jim is in the russian capital. jim. >> reporter: hi again, richard. edward snowden is still believed to be in a secure hotel wing in the airport. we've been talking about that for 12 days. probably trying to figure out where he can go and how he'll be able to get there since they've

withdrawn his passports. every day he's in touch all day long with his russian counterparts. that u.s./russian negotiations over snowden have been intense, but realistically speaking handing over snowden to u.s. authorities still seems to be a very solid red line here for russian president vladimir putin. so snowden's options, there are some but they're narrowing. we can see now from the effect of firm u.s. pressure behind the scenes, sometimes subtle, sometimes less subtle, pressure on the snowden friendly countries. like ecuador. only last week ecuador seemed to be the driving force behind the asylum process but now ecuador has backed off saying that snowden will have to get to an ecuador border first before considering his asylum request. take venezuela. the president was singing snowden's praises in moscow on tuesday.

now he says he'll have to wait for, quote, world reaction before making a final decision on asylum. so there is pressure. that pressure is being clearly felt across the globe but perhaps for washington's opinion not quite yet there in russia. richard, back to you. >> nbc's jim maceda, thank you so much, in moscow. egyptian leaders have reassured the obama administration they are not interested in long term rule but the white house remains concerned about the situation on the ground in cairo. joining us now from the white house is nbc news white house correspondent, peter alexander on this july 4th. peter, good to see you. is there any sense of whether the white house here is optimistic or not about what's happening there in egypt? >> reporter: richard, we can tell you what we know that has been taking place over the course of the day in the white house. just hung up with a senior administration official who says there have been a series of meetings that have been taking place over the course of the day, one of them wrapping up in the last few minutes or so from

my understanding where they are monitoring the situation in egypt right now. we're hoping to hear exactly what conversations have taken place between american governmental leaders and the leaders in egypt right now. we do know of conversations ongoing throughout this day between u.s. leaders and american allies in that reasonable gone, from saudi arabia, from turkey, and from elsewhere as well as conversations from leaders here and some of the government leaders in the government in egypt right now. the primary point that has been made through the course of the statement put out by the white house yesterday and through some of these conversations today is that the primary concern for the u.s. is the crackdown on violence, that there be no further violence in that country right now, but also that the military quickly as possible move with the democratic process for free elections. so that there can be a new government put in place there. from this conversation it was also communicated to me that what the military does, richard, in the next several days will be critical in terms of the

response from the u.s. toward egypt. >> peter, you've been reporting on u.s. aid to egypt, and kentucky senator rand paul has been calling for the u.s. to end aid to egypt. he's introduced an amendment, in fact, to halt the transfer of u.s. weapons to egypt. is this something the white house is considering? that aid that we've been talking about is for the military in egypt. >> reporter: no, that's exactly right. let's be clear. $1.6 billion annually that the u.s. gives to egypt. the vast majority, $1.3 billion is military aid. right now for the senior administration official that i just spoke to, they said from the statement from the president where they acknowledge that the president is now asking for a review to be done of the implications of what the u.s. is now referring to as a coup, but that that review shows the egyptians, shows the military there, as the president has insisted he's deeply concerned by the military's involvement in this process, that right now the u.s. is reviewing that aid but that it would be willing to

revoke it if it's not satisfied with the military's response going forward. no intentions to do that at this time. some say the u.s. should have used that aid as a bigger lever with the morsi government in i power, but that's where things stand as they look at that situation right now. >> the interim president. do you know if president obama has spoken with him? >> we don't yet. we are hoping to get a readout if it's communicated to us by members of the national security team at some point this afternoon about the calls that have taken place today between u.s. leaders and leaders there, whether the president has spoken to the new president or at least we should say the transitional interim president in that country right now. we just simply don't know. >> okay. it is certainly early on. peter alexander at the white house with the very latest. thank you very much. from doma, to prop 8 to the voting rights act. the waves from the supreme court have yet to hit the shore. what it could mean for the next election next. ♪ this summer was definitely worth the wait.

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new jersey democrats are breathing new life into the battle over same-sex marriage in that state following the supreme court's recent ruling on the issue. democrats in the new jersey state senate say they're working to get the votes needed to override republican governor chris christie's veto over a marriage equality bill. they're saying the high court's decision striking down the defense of marriage act makes it crystal clear that civil unions in new jersey are not equal to marriage. joining me now, democratic strategist richard goodstein and communications director for the indiana party, pete seat. richard, what's your thought about what's happening in new jersey? what will happen? >> well, look, i think if we take this case -- if this case goes to the courts, what we saw in the supreme court's doma decision was one step short of saying that there is a nationwide constitutional protection for same-sex marriage, but that case is just waiting to be brought. it may be new jersey, it may be

somewhere else. i think politically chris christie, you know, i think he's probably set in his ways on this issue. it may well -- you know, it will help him with his base. i think he's strong enough for new jersey that it probably won't reduce his numbers all that much. i think at a national level, however, it's another question, but i think eventually there will be a supreme court challenge to the question in some other state and it seems based on the doma decision that we saw, eventually this supreme court will rule that there is, indeed, a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. >> pete, what does this mean for chris christie? >> well, depends on what his future prospects are and if he wants to run for president in 2016, how that will all shake out. but to richard's point, this is now shifting to the state. their decision, the supreme court's decision is putting the definition of marriage and whether it's between one man and one woman or whether same-sex

couples can get married in the hands of the state. it's not the purview of the federal government and so you're going to see this battle not just in new jersey but you're going to see it spread around the country and in my home state of indiana there are plans to have this on the ballot in 2014, a referendum voted on by the voters to determine whether or not the definition of marriage should be in the state's constitution. so this is far from over in any of these states. >> yeah, when you talk about referendums, i want to talk about the latest "usa today" poll. it shows 55% of americans supporting marriage equality. that's up from 27% in 1996. at the same time here, pete, three republican senators have publicly endorsed same-sex marriage, lisa murkowski, rob portman and mark kirk as well. many republicans oppose same-sex marriage. what is your thought here? the gop is being asked the proverbial crossroads and they're there on marriage equality. where will all of this end?

>> well, just a little bit of truth here to this as well. there are a number of democrats that still oppose it as well. again, back home in indiana a number of democrats voted to put this constitutional amendment before the voters, so this is not just purely party line politics. >> sure. we'll ask richard about that. you can talk about the gop for us right now. >> sure. you're seeing a shift to your point about this poll, a shift nationally. this is a state-by-state issue. you can have a majority think one thing but we do have a tenth amendment, we do have state's rights and each state will determine how they want to define marriage moving forward. >> richard, about democrats? >> well, it's certainly the case that there are -- the fault line on this issue is pretty obvious. democrats by and large are in favor of same-sex marriage and republicans certainly at the national level and so at the

state levels as well are generally opposed. and i think what this shows is remember right after the 2012 election the republican national committee did this autopsy and there was talk about, you know, they needed to show more inclusion. well, take every issue down the line, whether it's same-sex marriage or immigration or climate change or voting rights or even registering guns, at every point you know republicans kind of stand up against those things and democrats are in favor of them and so is a huge percentage of the american public. the fact of the matter is i think democrats politically feel good. they feel good frankly morally about where they are on this issue and i think they feel good about that politically. >> pete, one of those issues, voting rights. another major decision by the high court involving that issue and we've got a poll that looked at that issue. 51% of americans disapprove of the ruling which dismantles a

key element of the voting law that happened in that decision. 33% supporting the high court's decision there. what impact is this ruling going to have on the 2014 mid terms and for that matter 2016 as well? pete? well, i think you've already seen a number of states say that they're going to put forward voter i.d. provisions in the law again in indiana. we already have that to ensure the integrity of our voting process. the privilege to vote is precious and we want to ensure the integrity in the process. the folks coming to the polls should legally be at the polls voting. you'll see that in other states. the key part of what you said there is an element of the voting rights act. it is still against the law to discriminate in any way when it comes to the right to vote. and some of the coverage has said that the voting rights act has been struck down, which is not true. they've found that a formula

that was still used from 1964 when this bill was first passed in 1965 was being used to determine which states had to get preclearance for changes to their voting laws. so it's about modernizing the law. that's what was struck down. but the essence of the voting rights act remains today and i hope you'll see congress modernize it here soon. >> i can tell richard has nothing to say about this. >> listen, one second. every state where there's a republican governor there are these efforts to restrict who can vote. now two years tag we rolled the clock back we heard the exact same thing and what you saw was a backlash in florida where there were these lines hours and hours and hours long because a lot of minority voters were saying, they're not going to take my rights away. i don't care what it costs me in terms of time and effort, i'm going to make sure my vote counts. this message, this notion of inclusion from the republican party, yes, we want to be more inclusive but we're not really going to make it easy for you

once we do include you to vote. it's kind of a mixed message, which i think at the end of the day does not really -- we're down to the republican party's benefit because it's not good nationally. it's not the message certainly on a july 4th, we shouldn't be celebrating reducing the ability of people to vote. >> on that vote democratic -- >> if i could -- >> pete, we've got to go. i apologize. we've heard from both sides. you guys have a very good 4th. richard, thank you for your time. pete, as well. >> you, too. coming up, four runners take their marks in order to make their marks in the fight against cancer, and it's opening day, once again, for lady liberty. we'll have that. imple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation.

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we can now announce joey "jaws" chestnut defending his title -- avert your eyes. in fact he broke the record. of the franks, winning a seventh straight contest.

yeah, he doesn't look so well. why are you drinking more, my friend. earlier the black widow of alexandria, virginia, looking pretty much the same way that joey did. yeah, no more hot dogs for a year, please. she won the women's title. she took down 36 3/4 hot dogs, with unabouts to boot, in just ten minutes. do you feel ill now. one of our nation's biggest treasures is back open for the first time. the statue of lib bert had been closed for mosh than eight months after hurricane sandy. the storm damaged much of liberty island. fortunately the statue was spared from much of the damage. in the months after that storm, hundreds of workers from the national parks service worked to clean the mud and debris there. nbc's katy tur was there. >> hey there, richard, in case you have not been here, we're a

hop, skip and jump away from manhattan island. it's been closed for eight months because of so much damage it sustained during hurricane sandy. the paving stones were attorney up, the docks were ripped up. as you can see, it's reopened. 15,000 people, they say are going to be here today, coming to see the gatekeeper to our nation. fortunately lady liberty herself didn't sustain any damage during sandy. she looks just as good today as the day she was first brought out here, 126 years old, and she truly hasn't aged a day. we should all by so lucky. ellis action island, on the other hand, if there is some bad news, ellis island is still closed $59 million worth of damage between ellis island and liberty island. they're hoping to reopen ellis island later this year. if you have to come to see one thing, certainly not a bad thing to see. looking just as good today as ever. these people certainly are excited to say happy birthday to

america by coming to see her. richard, back to you. >> gorgeous, just gorgeous. katy tur, thank you so much. many americans use the july 4th holiday as a chance to give back. for four runners, that means going the distance. starting today, each of them will run, get this, a full marathon a day for 24 consecutive days, running to raise money for children diagnosed with cancer. one of those is a pediatric nurse for new york presbyterian. he joins us now. you were telling me all together, 600-plus miles here. why? why are you doing this? >> so we're doing this to honor families that are struggling with cancer treatment -- radio therapy, chemotheir, or just waiting for test results and honoring families who no longer have to struggle, if they have lost children to cancer or if their children are in remission. childhood cancer is rampant

through out our country, and part of the run is to -- >> was there a child inflicted that inspired the four of you to do this? >> we each have individual stories of children we are worked with. i worked with a child in virginia before i moved up here, 7-year-old kid, came in looking horrible, and on death's door. we were able to turn him around, give him fluids and things like that. >> his name? >> i'm not allowed to give his name. i still think about his family and him, and he was acting like a completely normal child once we turned around. he's in full remission, he's doing great, back in school. when i think about him, that really drives me to keep doing these runs and hopefully find a cure to cancer. >> what does he say about the four of you -- >> hi hasn't been told yes. i don't want to same going to do this and not be able to do it. my plan is to get -- and each day i'm running for a different child.

afterwards, i want to tell all the kids, hey, i did this for you. >> how did the four of you get together? >> the four of es met as an ultra-marathon, a 52-mile race called worth the hurt in san francisco. i met kevin kline he's running in texas. he just ran across the state of texas a couple years ago. brian gunder is running in wisconsin. he ran 135 miles to support wounded warriors a few years ago, and lindsey nelson, who ended up winning the race in san francisco. >> you're doing this every day, it takes you about four hours. how did folks help you? >> one, they can go to snowdropfoundation porg, and i'm working night shift and running the marathon. if people want to run with me, the six-mile loop, i'm wearing a lime green, join me, we'll run at your pace i want i'll try to get there if i can i want i would love it. that's it for us right now. keep it right here on msnbc, for

all the latest news. i want you to have a great july 4th weekend. enjoy yourselves. "lockup san antonio, that's up next for you. vo: traveling you definitely end up meeting a lot more people but a friend under water is something completely different. i met a turtle friend today so, you don't get that very often. it seemed like it was more than happy to have us in his home. so beautiful. avo: more travel. more options. more personal. whatever you're looking for expedia has more ways to help you find yours. we're talkingere. with lisa about the walmart low price guarantee. did you know that walmart will ad match produce? i didn't know that. yeah, if you find a lower advertised price they'll match it right at the register. really! oh my gosh! see! bring in your last grocery receipt to walmart this 4th of july and see for yourself.

due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. attempt to leave deadly rivalries behind, but for some the past is anything but resolved.